I'd like to add some comments here on Betsy Hammond's behalf. This is a legitimate and fully accurate story, approved by me, Betsy's editor, and the editors who supervise me. Paz Ramos has been repeatedly -- and deservedly -- praised for his work on encouraging students to see themselves as college-bound. So we saw it as clearly newsworthy that he failed to do his legal duty to provide child support payments so his own daughter could attend community college. The story does not get into all the back and forth of his disagreements with his ex-wife precisely because it is irrelevant; a court assessed the facts and found that Ramos was liable to pay. The fact that he was also ordered to pay his daughter's attorney fees and the fact that the court had to garnish his wages to force him to make good on the court's order underscores the depth of his failure to follow the law.

Let's clean it up in here, folks. Whether you agree or disagree with this proposal, this is a real issue. Please feel free to comment if you have something useful to say. Otherwise, the junior-high level of thought reflected in some of the comments here is not helpful.

nwguy1: There's no indication the city of Portland is providing any money at all. The Portland Development Commission, the city's urban renewal agency, for example, gets involved in similar projects at various levels. But it is not, at this point, providing any financing in this case. The property is owned by Multnomah County, and it's that government that will be entering negotiations.

Hi, ozziepdx: My understanding is Melvin Mark Cos. will not be collecting fees for design and pre-construction work -- they'll be paying for that work. It is not using public money to buy the land, nor collecting money from the city. Multnomah County owns the land and will continue collecting parking revenues on it until it is sold to Melvin Mark Cos.; under the current proposal, Melvin Mark will pay $10 million.

TJ1: I'm perplexed. The story goes into great detail on the differences in schools. It talks about how schools in West Linn-Wilsonville and Riverdale cost more because residents there want top quality. It talks about the challenges for Portland, with very old schools being taken down to the studs. It talks about the difficulties in making comparisons. And it includes a range of recent, local projects -- including what the projects entailed -- so readers can compare for themselves.

america911: Our Sunday edition is the best-read edition, by a significant amount, of the week.

pdxnwwoman, Betsy Hammond doesn't know what "recent emails" you're referring to, nor who you are. She has not been corresponding with a reader about this article. Also, Betsy is among the most professional reporters I've ever worked with. Betsy also never wrote an "Oregon is too white" story. Perhaps you are thinking of a story she wrote in 2009 about how Portland is overwhelmingly white, especially when compared with other major U.S. cities. You can read that story here: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/01/in_a_changing_world_portland_r.html

Everyone, let's be decent here. These were two loved people, and the people who loved them don't need to see hurtful speculation about their early deaths. People die for thousands of reasons, and whether it was one reason or another doesn't change the fact that three daughters have lost a parent, and others have lost colleagues and friends.

kitanis, retailers will be allowed to keep the 5 cent charge for paper bags. The money will not go to the city. And zgeorge, I'm not sure what time the city's proposal will be released. But you can e-mail the mayor's staff by clicking on "contact us" on Adams' website, http://www.portlandonline.com/mayor --Michelle Brence, Portland team leader